Quotes about Labor

Work is a necessary evil to be avoided.

To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to which every enterprise and labor tends, and of which every desire prompts the prosecution.

It isn't easy, giving birth to our spiritual potential. Spiritual labor can be very arduous—one holy instant at a time, when we give up, surrender, soften, don't care if we're right, forgo our impatience, detach from the opinions and prizes of the world, and rest in the arms of God. But the end result is the love of our lives. We begin

All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind.

By labor and intent study (which I take to be my portion in this life, joined with the strong propensity of nature, I might perhaps leave something so written to after-times, as they should not willingly let it die.

The wisdom that is from above, is not only pure, but also peaceable and gentle; and the lack of these qualifications, like the dead fly in the jar of ointment, will spoil the fragrance and efficacy of our labors. If we act in a wrong spirit—we shall bring little glory to God; do little good to our fellow creatures; and procure neither honor nor comfort to ourselves! If you can be content with showing your wit, and gaining the laugh on your side—you have an easy task!

Banish professionalism from our midst, Oh God, an din its place put passionate prayer, poverty of spirit, hunger for God, rigorous study of holy things, white-hot devotion to Jesus Christ, utter indifference to all material gain, and unremitting labor to rescue the perishing, perfect the saints, and glorify our sovreign Lord. Humble us, O God, under your mighty hand, and let us rise, not as professionals, but as witnesses and partakers of the sufferings of Christ.

Let us labor to memorize the Word of God--for worship and for warfare. If we do not carry it in our heads, we cannot savor it in our hearts or wield it in the Spirit.

But it's different with pastors-not totally different, but different. The heart is the instrument of our vocation. Charles Spurgeon said, "Ours is more than mental work-it is heart work, the labor of our inmost soul." When a pastor's heart is breaking, therefore, he must labor with a broken instrument. Preaching is the pastor's main work, and preaching is heart work, not just mental work.

The hope of heaven brought him joy, and joy brought him strength, and so, like John Calvin before him and George Whitefield after him (two verifiable examples) and, it would seem, like the apostle Paul himself Ãƒ¢Ã¢'¬Ã‚¦ he was astoundingly enabled to labor on, accomplishing more than would ever have seemed possible in a single lifetime."4 But

Paul worked hard. He did not say that God's grace made his work unnecessary. He said God's grace made his work possible.

Labor, therefore, to fill your hearts with the cross of Christ . . . that there may be no room for sin.